The Chief and council of the Cote First Nation will not recognize the non-confidence vote held by band members in late July, says the council's lawyer.
A group of Cote First Nation members, alleging corruption among Chief Norman Whitehawk and his council, staged a vote of non-confidence outside the Cote Band Office on July 26 with the intention of forcing the leaders to step down. While organizers claimed the results were decisive, Kamsack/Yorkton lawyer Tom Campbell, who represents the Chief and council, counters that the vote was invalid.
"The Custom Elections Act doesn't allow for the holding of a vote of non-confidence, and it doesn't allow for the removal of the chief and council as the result of a vote of non-confidence," Campbell told Yorkton This Week.
Campbell says that according to the Custom Elections Act, only under a very narrow range of circumstances can council members be removed before the end of their three-year terms. These include a conviction of an indictable offence. But despite the efforts of the petitioners behind the vote, no criminal investigation into the Cote Chief and council is currently underway.
Further, Campbell insists that the allegations at the root of the non-confidence vote - primarily claims of millions of dollars missing from the Pelly Haylands settlement - are "an absolute fabrication."
"The vast majority of the money that was received from the Pelly Haylands is currently being held in trust with either the Royal Bank of Canada or with the Peace Hills Trust."
The council intends to carry on with "business as usual" at the First Nation, says Campbell.
Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC) has distanced itself from the controversy, calling it an internal matter. Due to the band's Custom Elections Act, AANDC has no authority to intervene in the government of the First Nation.
Rosalind Caldwell, the leader of the group of band members attempting to oust the Chief and council, says her group has not given up.
"We're going to the next level now."
Caldwell maintains that the Pelly Haylands money is not where the councillors claim it is, although she acknowledges that the evidence for these allegations presented by her group to the RCMP was found to be insufficient to pursue a criminal investigation. The group is now seeking additional documentation and statements from band members to strengthen their case.
Caldwell says the petitioners' next step is a pair of sit-in protests at AANDC/Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) and the Cote Band Office to demand action.
"INAC has got to start taking some responsibility."
Caldwell says her group is also enlisting the services of a lawyer, with the goal of obtaining a court ruling on the legitimacy of their non-confidence vote and possibly filing a class-action lawsuit against the council.
Chief Norman Whitehawk and his council are now in the final stages of signing another major land claim settlement that could bring tens of millions of dollars into the First Nation. The embattled councillors believe this is the true reason for the attempt at removing them from their positions, says their lawyer.
"The council members that I talked to," explains Campbell, "are suspicious that this dissident group of band members would like to cause another election so they can attempt to gain power, so to speak, and then they would have access to this other money that's coming down the pipe. This is what the council members believe the motivation is."
